Nancyann Johanson Twelker

Contrary to what the title might suggest, this book does not represent a comprehensive state-wide quilt inventory as has been done in other states. The author does provide photos and brief biographies for each quiltmaker.

I hate to criticize, because I have met the author, and she is sincerely interested in quilt history. But it is hard to understand the basis for selecting the specific quilts reviewed here. Although some are very fine, these quilts, taken as a whole, do not make an exceptional collection.

The author included some quilts due to the perceived significance of their makers in Washington history. This approach leads to one of the oddest quilts I have seen in a quilt history book - a wretchedly ugly quilt made by the sister of Dixy Lee Ray, erstwhile chair of the Atomic Energy Commission and the first female governor of Washington. Dixy Lee was a rip-snortin' character well deserving of an author's attention, but her sister appears to be a quiet matronly sort who served as a de facto First Lady for the unmarried governor. A very strange reason to include her in a quilt history book.… (meer)